December 30, 2007

Top Ten + 1 Albums of 2007

Key tracks: Medevac, Halcyon Days, So You Say, There's A Place, Don't Give It Up

2 Sophie Ellis-Bextor Trip The Light FantasticAfter 2 previous solo albums that were more like singles sets with filler, Sophie nailed it on the 14-track Trip. She does it all, Blondie poprock on Catch You, Pet Shop Boysian dramatic balladry on Can't Have It All and one of the more unique Xenomania productions of the year, If You Go. Read my full review.

Key tracks: If You Go, Can't Have It All, New York City Lights, Catch You and What Have We Started, among many other gems.

3 Darren Hayes This Delicate Thing We’ve MadeIncredibly ambitious double CD with some perfect moments and a few failures. A huge risk that paid off for pop fans. Read my full review...and this too!

Key tracks: Who Would Have Thought, Conversation With God, Step Into The Light, Tuning Of Violins, The Future Holds A Lion's Heart.

and the rest, in no order:Roisin Murphy OverpoweredWhen Roisin is good, she is electrifying. This album is jam packed with brilliant tracks and, I think, a big leap forward from her first solo CD. I have to also say that among many physically beautiful pop women this year, she was the queen. Read my full reviewand more about the Artist Of 2007.

Tracey Thorn Out Of The WoodsThe return everyone had been waiting for. What was thrilling about this album, which I never reviewed because it rendered me speechless, was the surprising breadth of styles.Out Of The Woods has moments of acoustic beauty, pure blissful pop and dancefloor coolness. Her voice has never sounded better. Thank GOD she is back. This probably should be in the Top 3.

Key tracks: It's All True, Raise The Roof, Nowhere Near, By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept (brilliant song title!)

Patrick Wolf The Magic PositionThe first great album of 2007. This is Patty's finest moment, combining the best elements of his first two records, and raising the bar with his finest lyrics and melodies. Read my full review.Key tracks: Augustine (lyric of the year), The Magic Position, Stars, BluebellsSara Bareilles Little VoiceBeautiful debut record by the best female voice to emerge from America in years. Sara belongs in the group with Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLachlan and Billy Joel. Read my full review.

Key tracks: Love Song, Gravity, Between The Lines, One Sweet Love

Suzanne Vega Beauty And CrimeUnexpected return from the great singer/songrwriter who launched an army of female musicians in the years following her chart-toppers. Ths is her third best record after the debut and Solitude Standing. Jimmy Hogarth's production gives SV's songs the complexity they deserve. Major record. Read my full review.

Key tracks: Ludlow Street, Bound, Pornographer's Dream

Annie Lennox Songs Of Mass DestructionThe great Diva of our time brings it with her best vocal performance ever and her finest album since her solo debut Diva. Annie goes pretty deep for most older fans and this CD is no exception. Alongside classic Annie songs like Dark Road and Love Is Blind, she included surprises like the Eurythmics-y synth gem Coloured Bedspread and the "filmic", sentimental Fingernail Moon. Add in the Elton John-ish Smithereens (sad song!) and her finest vocal performance ever on Big Sky. Read my full review.

Key tracks: Big Sky, Smithereens, Love Is Blind

Kylie Minogue XThe final analysis is, for me, that Kylie X is brilliant. She has a great formula here: 1) classic Kylie songs like Stars and Wow, 2) modern Kylie on The One and Sensitized 3) successful new styles on All I See and In My Arms, 4) gorge emotional ballad on Cosmic and 5) attempts at "radicalism" that fail horribly, like Nu-di-ty. Read my full review.Key tracks: Wow, The One, All I See

Best Album of 2007 that is actually from 2005:Robyn RobynHow many times has this CD been released? The final version with With Every Heartbeat and Jack U Off is the best. I left the songs off my lists because they are old. With Every Heartbeat was on my best song list last year but never wore out its welcome.

The Hours Narcissus RoadKey tracks: Ali In The Jungle, Back When You Were Good, Love You More

Dragonette GaloreKey tracks: Take It Like A Man, Competition, Another Day, I Get Around

Passengers Wicked Man's RestKey tracks: Four Horses, Wicked Man's Rest, Walk You HomeRufus Wainwright Release The StarsKey tracks: Going To A Town, Between My Legs, Nobody's Off The Hook, Release The StarsLucky Soul The Great UnwantedKey tracks: The Great Unwanted, Ain't Never Been Cool, Lips Are Unhappy (great song title!), My Darling Anything

Let's see...for now I can be sure Suzanne and Tracey will both have a place in my Top 100 Songs of 2007 (still in the making! sigh...), and actually your raving reviews inspired me to go check out their albums.

For me, 2007 is quite a disappointing year album-wise, though, a lot of those albums I had high hopes for turned out to be at a lesser standard than I expected. (one of them, sadly, is Feist)

What I didn't get: Dragonette, Patrick Wolf and Darren Hayes. Just not my cup of tea.

Great list; we have very similar tastes in music (but we have already established this). I am surprised not to see Feist or the Sugababes up there, though. And I couldn't agree more about Robyn's album. It would have been in my top 5 if it actually would have been released this year... sigh.

I need to get Sophie's album. "If You Go" is still one of my favorite songs of the year, so I'm not sure why I haven't yet. I really like Ghosts' "Stop" as well; that may be an album worth checking out, maybe a little more cautiously, as well, then.

I still love so much about the Darren album--I was just listening to it again a few nights ago and still finding new favorite "moments" or little things in songs to love.

Great list xo. You are so fucking classy whereas I am a pimping pop whore with little taste :) Still our music makes us happy and sometimes we overlap (see Upper Room, Lorraine, Mr Hudson, Captain, The Feeling et al). Great great list (oh i already said that!) and am starting to love the Siobhan album as well as Sara Bareilles. Better late than never, eh>?!